


Those Final Moments

by ImperiusRex



Category: Avengers (Comics), Marvel (Comics), Marvel (House of M), Marvel 616, X-Men (Comicverse)
Genre: Angst, Dysfunctional Family, Family Angst, Family Drama, Family Dynamics, Family Feels, Family Issues, Family Secrets, Gen, Heavy Angst, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Minor Character Death, he gets better though, warnings for slight temporary murder
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-23
Updated: 2019-02-23
Packaged: 2019-11-04 05:48:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,828
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17892674
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ImperiusRex/pseuds/ImperiusRex
Summary: In the House of M everything is perfect on the surface, yet the illusion of Utopia wavers and Erik & Pietro’s fear they are losing their minds as the end of House of M draws near.





	Those Final Moments

[Set during House of M and slightly before Son of M; Erik and Pietro’s fear they are losing their minds as the end of House of M draws near, Wanda senses her end and cannot keep up the illusion.]

 

** Those Final Moments **

 

Those first few moments before opening his eyes Erik hears a cry so heart wrenching it’s enough to make him sick. Trapped in his nightmares, he sees a bright white light… so bright it could burn the world, and the feeling of someone clutching his arm as they scream is so real that if he hadn’t jolted awake in his bed he would have thought it real.

_His face is shrouded in his helmet as he gazes down at the two mutants, twins, to find them here near his own home town. **Worthy additions to his cause**. The girl is scared of the powers she has, but the boy… he gazes at Erik with awe and fear as he should._

_It is later and the twins have names now, ones he had chosen for them, and ones that he uses to address them by, the girl is not an issue, she obeys his commands, because she feels indebted to him… but the boy… his fear is gone now replaced by disgust and hate._

_“Walk with me Quicksilver I would have words.”_

_He watches as Pietro nods to his sister, she stays seated at the dining table with Mastermind and Toad. The earlier fight between Pietro and the two was becoming a daily occurrence, all for the honor of his sister. She was the tool Erik used to keep the pale haired speedster in his place. They walk through the halls of the building they currently occupy._

_“Tell me Quicksilver, what are your abilities.”_

_“You know them.”_

_“I know the ones you show me, have you nothing else?”_

_“No. I run fast, all the time, everything around me moves as though it was stuck in vat of molasses, even you.”_

_He waits for Pietro to elaborate. The teen’s face is screwed up with thought as he continues._

_“I feel I am always a few steps ahead of everyone, I can move without you knowing I was gone until it was too late.”_

_“How do you find your way?”_

_Pietro puzzles over the question before asking Magneto what he means._

_“How do you know where you are going Quicksilver? North? West? East? South? How do you know where you need to be?”_

_They walk past old paintings of public officials, those who were in charge of this place before Magneto had cleared everyone off the island._

_“There is… a pull. My mind… I absorb so much, too much at times, I am constantly processing information, and my mind discards more than I know. It takes in everything from the world around me and keeps what it thinks I need. I can feel a pull, in my mind, it says go here. So I move my feet and I go.”_

_“It is a song.”_

_Pietro looks up at Erik, the magenta suit clashed horribly with the ugly helmet and cape. His own suit was green, he didn’t even like green. Still he wore it, and now he waits for Erik to continue. Erik stops at the stairs in the grand entrance hall, this place used to be an embassy of some sort, no one was here now. He extends his hand, and a metal rails on the stairs twist and turn like living snakes._

_“It is a song, a connection. You are connected in some way, to the earth perhaps, or magnetic fields that you feel that pull in your mind like I feel mine. Your powers could be great Quicksilver. **So very great.** You feel this pull inside of you… for greatness, for power, for the good of all mutant kind don’t you?”_

_“I…”_

_Magneto presses, he needs his people loyal, he needs a strong base or everything would crumble._

_“If you just heed my every order I will rise us up above the dirty sapiens and we can take our rightful place.”_

_“I don’t ever want to be like you. **Ever**. I am here for Wanda and no more.”_

_“You and your sister should be grateful to me, and loyal to my plan.”_

_“We owe you a debt, and no more Magneto. **No more**. I may hate the humans but I am no **murderer**.”_

_“Killing is necessary. **Needed**. There is no shame in doing what needs to be done.”_

_“No... I refuse to believe that and there is always another way. It doesn’t **need** to end in death.”_

_There was a look of hate and disgust in the light blue eyes that looked up at him and for some reason that irked him more than the fear from before._

_“One day Quicksilver, you will have to make a choice, your sister or the humans. When you do I will be there.”_

Now Erik sits in his bed, the silk covers pooled around his waist, chest bared to the cool wind that comes in from his open window. Erik raises a shaking hand to his face but it is clean, confused, _wasn’t he just crying?_ He tries to hold onto the dream but it slips through his fingers like sand.

_Why am I tormented?_

He had nightmares before, of Anya burning in a fire, her screams never left him, _never_. Now he swings his legs over the edge of the bed, a strange feeling comes over him. Today was just like every other day of his life, the routine was welcomed ever since he had finally brought peace to the chaotic world.

In the shower Erik sighs as the hot water hits his back; his daily reflections were always the same. He had made the world a better place, a safer place for mutants and his children. _Xavier would have been proud of me._ Dressing in his usual royal attire the golden buttons gleamed as his fingers moved over them in a line, tucking each one into its place before moving on. His dreams already fading as he gives himself one final look in the mirror. The King of the Mutants and Ruler of the House of Magnus was ready for another day.

*****

“Where are your siblings?”

Lorna steps around the garden as she moves towards her father, her feet being sure to not crush any of the fragile flowers.

“Pietro is running around I suppose and Wanda is where she always is.”

Lorna’s jewelry clinked along her wrists, the numerous bangles made music as she moved with the grace of a princess. Her green gown is resplendent in the early morning sunlight as he glances at Lorna from the corner of his eyes before returning his gaze to the memorial of his old friend. She seemed troubled; her green hair is pushed back before she continues.

“I wanted to speak to you father.”

“Later. I must find your brother.”

“Father-”

He places a hand on her cheek, and presses a kiss to her forehead; the jewels upon her headdress are cold upon his lips.

“Later Lorna… we have time.”

*****

_The world was perfect wasn’t it?_

That was the question he asked himself every morning as he went on his run. His feet flying faster than humanly possible because he wasn’t a human, he was a mutant, and not just any mutant; he was the Son of Magnus, King Erik. The Prince scowls, for some reason those words irk him. Erik having power makes his skin crawl but it is the way things have always been, ever since Erik found Pietro and Wanda as teens and revealed their destiny; later finding Lorna, and finally the complete takeover and domination of the human race so that the mutants could finally find peace and so now here they were.

One big happy family…

Yet there is something missing, he feels this deep inside, like the loss of a child he never had, and it haunts him. Much like his dreams each night, where he feels helpless and small…

_Their voices are quiet, barely whispers, and in the dark they held each other._

_“How was it supposed to be?”_

**_“We were supposed to be a family.”_ **

_“Yes.”_

_His hair is a brilliant white that no darkness can dull._

**_“We were supposed to be great heroes.”_ **

_“We were… for a bit.”_

_Her green eyes sparkle with tears; they fall and mingle with her brown hair._

_“I would do **anything** to take that back.”_

_A small sob sounds, a single note of despair that dies on the air and his vision blurs, throat tight..._

**_“You could…”_ **

****

Pietro stumbles, going too fast he falls. _What was that?!_ He tucks and rolls down a street, the speed he was going doing anything other than letting himself stop naturally would have resulted in broken bones. His clothes are ruined, torn and there are cuts on his skin. He is breathing heavily as some of the city folk come up to see him; he waves them away and races off once more towards the palace.

_The words… the voices he heard, he almost felt his own lips moving. What were they? He never said that? Did he?_

There is urgency to his movements and he stops at Wanda’s suite before going to clean himself up, he had to make sure she was ok. She was sitting and playing quietly with her sons. His heart finally begins to slow. _She is safe, she is safe._ It is a repetition of words that he constantly tells himself. It makes his mind settle as he walks back to his rooms, changing he winces when he sees the cuts on his skin. They will heal, with time. Changing into new clothes he finds he doesn’t have the patience for his work today, helping Erik maintain the household and Red Guard.

He spends the day around the city, it felt like each time he slowed, something was trying to catch up with him and so he kept moving.

*****

Erik finds Pietro later in the day, just after the sun had gone down and the stones of the palace were still warm, the cool air plays with their hair, both matched in color, though his a touch more grey than white.

“What are you doing here Pietro?”

“Taking a moment.”

“Is all well?”

“Why wouldn’t it be?”

“You’ve been avoiding me of late… and your duties.”

“I’ve been taking care of Wanda. She _needs_ me more than you do. Let Lorna have more of my duties.”

“I will.”

There is a quiet as Erik clasps his hands behind his back, the breeze upon his face brings the scents of the living city, slight muted sounds of people moving about, and a thousand possibilities. He was proud of himself; he even allows a small smile on his face. Opening his eyes after taking in a deep breath of cool air he finds that Pietro no longer has his back to him, and the long lean legs that had dangled over the edge of the balcony railing into the open air were now firm on the balcony. There is a look in Pietro’s eyes that makes Erik shift, uncomfortable. _Why does he look at me as though he hates me? What malice does he harbor in his heart that there in his eyes is something I fear to see?  Have I done something?_

His mind hurts, a throbbing headache forms and he clutches one temple with his fingers trying to stop it.

_The world is dark, Erik sees a bed, a woman sleeps on it and there is man with snow white hair standing before it, his shoulders are slumped as though he was carrying a heavy burden._

_“What are you doing here Pietro?”_

_“They are going to kill her.”_

_“… what?”_

_“THEY ARE GOING TO KILL HER!”_

_It wasn’t that Erik hadn’t heard him only that the words made no sense. Pietro continues but it is like Erik is listening from another room, the words are muted as he stares at his son’s face, it looked like a trapped wild creature, desperate and scared._

_“…MY SISTER!! YOUR OWN DAUGHTER!!”_

_His throat is dry and it is hard to form the words, they slip from his lips in a hoarse whisper and he is ashamed of himself the moment they are spoken in the air._

_“Pietro… they may be right.”_

_Pietro speaks too fast, and Erik tells him, he is trying to hold on a crumbling wall, trying to keep his emotions cold but the anger is raw and real in Pietro’s face and Erik thinks his next words come from some broken part of him for he knew, **he knew** that if he could, he would have found a way to save her._

_“What would you have me do?”_

_“They are going to kill her!”_

_He holds his son by the arms, his nails digging into the light blue suit, different from the green the boy started out with but still similar, as he screams, just as desperate and almost begging for his son to have an answer though he knew that there was none… save his daughter’s death._

**_“WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE ME DO?!”_ **

_He watches the tears that had formed in the corners of his son’s light blue eyes grow heavy and fall, in silent twin streams down Pietro’s cheeks. He cannot bear them, cannot bear another one of his children’s death, Anya’s had broken him and now Wanda’s death would kill him. He was sure of it._

_Pietro is desperate, he cannot think, he feels as though he is drowning in a glass box and everyone is watching him, letting it happen. He wants to explain but he is going too fast. His heart is going to rip out of his chest, he can feel the thundering beat shaking his ribs, or is he imagining that?_

_Maybe this all some sick dream?_

_How could they, the avengers? They were supposed to be on their side, they were supposed to be a family. Now the only family he has stands before him and tells him he cannot help…_

_He trembles as Erik releases him and he clutches the front of his father’s shirt, his hands hurt, his body hurts, his heart is dying. The sound that fills the quiet room is inhuman, and dark. It is born of the grief that fills a man’s soul, for Pietro was already grieving for his sister before her body was in the ground._

_“A g g h h u h…”_

_He is at his father’s feet, he would beg, would do anything for him to save her,  for once Pietro wished that Erik would put his own children before himself, before his war with the humans. Instead Pietro cries like he hasn’t cried in years and he watches his tears hit the cold concrete floor he is unaware that his father’s tears are just as real._

_Erik pulls away from his son and leaves the room and he is alone… alone…_

_“You shouldn’t yell at him, Pietro.”_

_Erik hears his daughter’s voice just as he heard his son’s tears but he cannot bring himself to return to the room, he knows he is a coward for not wanting to be there for Wanda’s final hours._

 

Erik is no longer in that sad dark room, he stands with his heir on the tops of the palace, one of the balconies that overlook his kingdom.

He clutches his head, _what was that?_ No memory he ever had… no. He had never had that conversation with his son… Pietro didn’t look at him with such malice. No he was happy. Everything was alright, Wanda was safe and his children with him and now he had to prepare for visitors…

“We ha- have visitors... coming… I need you to be sure everything goes smoothly. Can you do that Pietro?”

He glances at his son, almost afraid to see that hate on his face again but Pietro looks the same as he always had, slightly impatient. Erik lets out a small pent up breath.

“Yes yes, I will see to the daily operations and put the Red Guard on alert, Lorna can handle the other details?”

“I will inform her.”

There is a gust of wind and Pietro is gone. Erik moves to the stone railing and leans upon it, staring down at his hands which rested upon the still warm stone. It was the days of summer now, where days were hot and nights warm. _Where was that wind coming from?_ It was far too cool. It was as though things weren’t right.

_Things were out of place._

The next day his world fell apart and scattered like dust in the wind.

*****

There were enemies everywhere, the fighting raged on and he was pissed the fuck off, that these people would **_dare_** attack him. He fought, they all did but the world was unraveling before his eyes, so many things that were not right wavered and changed, he clutches his head with two hands as he flies upwards, above the din of screams and shouts and weapons being thrown around.

Time moves strangely now.

Erik is battling against the powers of those mutants and heroes who had banded together and he needs to know who they are, what they want, he finishes with one group and finds another in the garden where Xavier’s shrine is. He spies a girl, she had blonde hair and her eyes lock on to him.

“Who are –“

She shows him the truth and his mind consumed with anger.  

*****

Things were out of place.

“WHAT HAVE YOU DONE IN MY NAME BOY?!”

Why was reality so fluid now? He feared his mind was unraveling, and he is made aware of _everything_ , of what his son did and… what his daughter did. Where was Lorna? Somewhere in the battle.

*****

Pietro is no longer afraid, for what else could he lose? He had nothing that he had kept for himself, his own daughter was not real in this fairy tale world he had given his father, and nothing mattered more than Wanda surviving, _nothing_.

 “YOU WERE GONG TO LET THEM KILL HER!”

*****

Erik’s eyes, a cold blue, harder than Emma’s diamond skin zeroes in on Quicksilver and he unleashes all his rage at him, at his son.

Ten thousand pounds of metal crush Quicksilver and in his heart, that part of Erik that he kept alive after Anya was gone, died a final death. Magda was right… there was nothing worth saving left in him anymore.

_“Brother…”_

Wanda’s voice is hauntingly soft, yet it echoes across the battlefield for all to hear.

Erik’s anger is a storm of hot fury but hers is a cold snow and she silences him. Her hands glow a scarlet red, and his son’s eyes open, they glow too.

Things were out of place.

Like a puzzle jammed together things would not fit. A woman and her brother tried to fix the world, but the world was too broken to mend.

_“Look at us.”_

She whispers.

_“Look at what we have become.”_

Her brother senses what she will do for he knows her better than he knows himself.

_“We’re freaks Daddy._ _Freaks_.”

 The telepath tries to warn the rest, the father cannot speak.

_“No More Mutants.”_

 He watches as the world turns white and the twins disappear in a void of light.

**_“FATHER!”_ **

Her cry is so heart wrenching it makes him sick, Lorna’s hand clutches his arm as her green hair swirls, she had found him in the battle but it was far too late.

Their world burned white.

 

*****

 

The aftermath, how many days had it been since she uttered those words that would forever be etched in his mind.

_No more mutants._

He is lost, there was a voice somewhere, and memories tear at him with their sharp dark claws, and he cannot feel the song in his chest anymore.

**_“WANDA!”_ **

He curses her name as Erik strains and screams at the metal to move, he begs, he tries for days and days as he sits in the ruined land that was once his greatest kingdom, but his powers are…

gone

_Gone_

**GONE**

Those final moments before closing his eyes, his exhaustion finally coming to claim him for a long sleep, Erik hears cries so heart wrenching it’s enough to make him sick, his guts churn, and the wetness on his face tells him the inhuman sound of a man in pain comes from him and that they belong to a man whose dreams were shattered; for he had the world in his hands and he broke the ones who gave it to him.

 

*****

 

Pietro watches from a distance, he feels… slow, muddled. His limbs are too heavy. He is wearing his old uniform, tattered and torn, beneath a brown trench coat he had salvaged, he had woken to a broken world, where the mutants were gone and Wanda was too. He won’t face Lorna when he leaves this place, he isn’t brave enough, but here a few days after the end he watches the old mutant try to move metal.

He feels a sick sense of humor, that his father has been brought so low, he would have crowed his victory, he would have rubbed the salt in the wound and asked him how it felt to be powerless, how it felt to have someone hurt you. He wants to face him but he fears that darkness in him, that taint in his blood, he fears that if he comes too close he won’t stop. His fists would talk and he would hurt him. He wants to make him feel how it was to have your world end in a pile of metal and darkness.

He wants… his life back.

His own powers were ripped from him, and Pietro does not understand why Wanda would hurt him like that, why was he punished as Erik was?

**“WANDA!”**

The ex-mutant screams at air, the metal won’t move, and the younger sees there is nothing left here but a tired, old man. He watches his father slump into the dirt, and hears the cries. There is nothing left here.

Pietro turns and walks away, slow, slow, slow. He feels it takes him all day until he reaches the harbor, where there were rescue boats trying to figure out what happened, good people trying to help those stranded on the island. He snags a hat and shoves it on his head, closing the coat over the lightening blot he melds into the crowd, just another faceless nameless ex-mutant.

He watches the island of Genosha become smaller in the distance as they are ferried to the mainland; he plans to lose himself in the crowds of New York. Yet in those final moments the man was once a hero feels nothing.

Nothing at all.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt for family angst with Pietro and Erik. The Magnet family is my favorite dysfunctional family. Some dialogue is borrowed heavily from the comic House of M (2005) as I was trying to write the what happened in between the moments.
> 
> Comments and Kudos are always appreciated!


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